Orange County FL ltd to editor ...Thx Sarah R!

>    Dear Editor:
>    So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land 
>is made up of immigrants.  Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear 
>down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't 
>being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and 
>other ports of entry.
>
>    Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people 
>like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new 
>kind of immigrant any longer.  Back in 1900 when there was a rush from 
>all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off 
>a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented.  Some 
>would even get  down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground.  They 
>made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good 
>and bad times.  They made learning English a primary rule in their new 
>American households and some even changed their names to blend in with 
>their new home.
>
>    They had waved good-bye to their birth place to give their children 
>a new life and did everything in their power to help their children 
>assimilate into one culture.  Nothing was handed to them. No free 
>lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them.  All they had were 
>the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a 
>future of prosperity.
>
>    Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My 
>father fought alongside men whose parents had come straight over from 
>Germany, Italy, France and Japan.  None of these 1st generation 
>Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had 
>come from.  They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the 
>Emperor of Japan.  They were defending the United States of America as 
>one people.
>
>    When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for 
>the French-American or the German-American or the Irish-American.  The 
>people of France saw only Americans.  And we carried one flag that 
>represented one country.  Not one of those immigrant sons would have 
>thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to 
>represent who they were.  It would have been a disgrace to their parents 
>who had sacrificed so much to be here.  These immigrants truly knew what 
>it meant to be an American.  They stirred the melting pot into one red, 
>white and blue bowl.
>
>    And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same 
>rights and privileges.  Only they want to achieve it by playing with a 
>different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a 
>guarantee of being faithful to their mother country.  I'm sorry, that's 
>not what being an American is all about.  I believe that the immigrants 
>who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that 
>for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations 
>to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching 
>for a better life.  I think they would be appalled that they are being 
>used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.
>
>    And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it 
>happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration 
>bill.  I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just 
>yet.
>
>    (signed)
>    Rosemary LaBonte
>
>    KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING.  FOR THE WRONG THINGS TO PREVAIL THE 
>RIGHTFUL MAJORITY NEEDS TO REMAIN COMPLACENT AND QUIET!!  LET THIS NEVER 
>HAPPEN!!
>
>    I sincerely hope this letter gets read by millions of people all 
>across the nation!
>